


The Magnificent Seven

by flurblewig



Category: Castle
Genre: Awesome Ladies Ficathon, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-08-07
Updated: 2010-08-07
Packaged: 2017-10-10 23:44:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/105760
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/flurblewig/pseuds/flurblewig
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone knows that there are only seven basic plots in the world.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Magnificent Seven

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the Awesome Ladies Ficathon, prompt: Castle; Martha Rodgers; I remember when rock was young.

Everyone knows that there are only seven basic plots in the world. Martha herself has lived through all of them at least fifteen times each (and she's definitely overdue for a Rags To Riches right now, thank you very much.)

Love Story, of course, doesn't count in its own right. It's a subplot at best, cheap padding at worst. The idea that your story -- any of your stories -- can be reduced to nothing more than the sex you are (or aren't) having is... well, pretty repellant, really. Martha has always had higher aspirations -- for herself, for Richard and most certainly for Alexis.

And for Kate Beckett, too.

Oh, sure, she's not averse to the idea in theory -- what mother doesn't want to see her pride and joy happily settled with an intelligent, capable woman who can sort his life out for him when she herself is no longer around to shoulder the responsibility? But that's the thing: as maternally blasphemous as it might feel, Richard's life is the B plot here. He has money, fame, fortune, a lovely home, a wonderful daughter, a devoted mother, an absent ex-wife -- okay, maybe Richard's life is actually the C or D plot. Maybe Richard's life is just part of the background setting.

Martha's never allowed her men to define her, much as they've tried. And Kate Beckett strikes her as being of very similar mind. Her story might be a Quest, a Rebirth, even a Tragedy (although Martha fervently hopes not -- there's nothing fundamentally wrong with hoping for a Happy Ever After, per se) but the point is that it's hers, to tell as she will. Martha's been around the block enough times to know that that's what counts.

For a while, she felt as if she'd seen it all, heard all the variations. As if there was nothing that could inspire her again, nothing that seemed fresh. Nothing that would push her to the edge of her seat, desperate to know how it was going to end.

Which just goes to show that you're never too old -- sorry, never too experienced -- to be proved wrong. And she's never been happier about it.


End file.
